Two Robert Shaws charged in bank robberies

Surveillance photos of two men arrested in connection with bank robberies in the city: Robert Leslie Shaw (left) and Robert D. Shaw.

Surveillance photos of two men arrested in connection with bank robberies in the city: Robert Leslie Shaw (left) and Robert D. Shaw. (Photos from FBI)

Rosemary Regina SobolTribune reporter

Robert Shaw was a popular name with bank robbery suspects last week as the FBI cleared up two city heists with the charging of two different Chicago men with the same name.

Robert Leslie Shaw, 55, was charged Tuesday with the Feb. 28 robbery of a Citibank branch at 180 N. Michigan Ave., while Robert D. Shaw, 54, was charged Monday with the March 1 robbery of a Fifth Third Bank branch at 1420 E 53rd St. in the Hyde Park neighborhood, according to FBI spokeswoman Joan Hyde.

Robert Leslie Shaw, of the 12200 block of South Emerald Avenue, took approximately $870 from the Citibank, according to the FBI. He approached a teller counter, fumbled in his pockets and then presented a note that read: "Follow the note and no one will get hurt. I have a gun." Robert Leslie Shaw fled with cash, but the teller remember what he looked like and his clothing, including a large, black, three-quarter length puffy coat.

On March 4, the FBI reviewed surveillance photos and from the incident and they were circulated to Citibank employees, including those who work at 100 S. Michigan Ave., where some workers recognized him as the person who'd been loitering in their vestibule on Feb. 28, about fifteen minutes before the robbery. Then on March 4, workers recognized him again loitering around the bank and called 911.

Robert Leslie Shaw was taken into custody a few blocks away at a bus stop with a demand note in his pocket, according to the FBI.

Robert D. Shaw, of 527 East 51st Street, allegedly approached a teller at the Fifth Third Bank branch at 1420 E 53rd St. in Hyde Park and asked to make a cash withdrawal, according to the FBI. But when the bank teller asked for his identification and Social Security card, he refused to provide the information, federal investigators said in a statement.

Robert D. Shaw then told the teller that he was robbing the bank and wanted "all the large bills out of your drawer." The teller took money and a dye pack from her drawer and gave it to him, the statement said.

The teller was shaking in fear, but Robert D. Shaw told her to calm down. "I don't want to hurt you. I have a sick child," he told the teller, according to federal investigators. "I just want to get home to my child."

Later, Robert D. Shaw asked the teller to give him "a few minutes to get away." Shaw took about $1,874 in cash from the bank, according to the FBI.

About 20 minutes after the robbery occurred, police found Robert D. Shaw about two blocks away with several dollar bills stained red and a discarded dye pack nearby, according to the federal investigators. Police also found Shaw with hands and clothing with red stains and found the detonated dye pack had apparently exploded in his jacket pocket and burned a hole, the FBI said.

Robert D. Shaw later confessed to the crime, the agency said, admitting to being the man on surveillance tape robbing the bank.

"That's me all day long; anyone can see that," he told investigators, according to the FBI.